The college basketball game between
Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati was stopped
with 9.4 seconds left yesterday after a brawl broke out between
the crosstown rivals. Three players were ejected.

Xavier won the game, which was televised by ESPN, 76-53 at
the Cintas Center in Cincinnati. The Musketeers are ranked No. 8
in both the Associated Press and ESPN Coaches polls.

The fight began when Xavier’s Tu Holloway and Cincinnati’s
Ge’Lawn Guyn stood chest-to-chest shouting at each other.
Xavier’s Dezmine Wells then shoved Guyn leading to both benches
emptying.

“I felt disrespected for them guys to come at me and talk
like that, so I let the whole staff over there and let their
players know that none of them is like me,” Holloway told
reporters. “That’s when it started.”

As both teams’ coaches tried to break up the fight,
Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates punched Xavier’s Kenny Frease, knocking
the 7-foot, 275-pound center to the floor and leaving his face
bloodied. While he was down, he was kicked by Cincinnati’s
Cheikh Mbodj.

The Atlantic 10 said that Gates, Mbodj and Xavier’s Wells,
were listed as ejected.

“There’s no excuse for any of them, on our side, on their
side,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin told reporters. Guys need
to grow up. “You’ve got to learn how to win on one side, you’ve
got to learn how to lose on the other side. I’ve never been so
embarrassed.”